Mamma Kerr

“A 31-year-old woman has given birth to sextuplets at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxfordshire.

The four girls and two boys, ranging in weight from 1.3 to 2lb, were born 14 weeks early on 14 May.

The mother, from Oxfordshire, is said to be recovering well and all of the babies are in the hospital’s specialist Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.”

[Source: BBC News website - accessed 21 May 2010.]

Congratulations to the family!  I wish them all well! 

You can read more of this article on the BBC News Website here.

I also have another amzing multiple birth story via my friend, Jennifer Miller of Twin Happy.  It’s the story of a family who had twins – one via IVF and the other naturally – and the family will never know which one is which!  Watch this video of the lucky family here.

“Many new fathers experience post-natal depression, yet most cases go undetected and untreated, experts warn.

One in 10 new fathers may have the baby blues, US researchers believe – based on their trawl of medical literature.

While this rate is lower than in new mothers, it is more than currently recognised, they told the Journal of the American Medical Association.”

[Source: BBC News Website accessed 19 May 2010]

You can read more of this article on the BBC News website here.

“Boys naturally gravitate towards cars and girls towards dolls from the moment they first crawl, a study suggests.

City University researchers put a range of toys a meter from 90 children – aged nine to 36 months – and recorded what was played with and for how long.

They found boys spent more time playing with cars and balls, while girls spent more time playing with the dolls.”

(Source: BBC Website 15/04/10)

You can read more on the BBC News website.

I’ve just read an article that initially made me laugh, but then made me stop and consider the implications of my choice of words and phrases in my blog post content and, in particular, my choice of permalink titles.  The article highlighted the problem of trigger happy spam filters blocking harmless websites and emails because of certain words or syllables being perceived, out of context, as obscenities.

“After 90 years, one of Canada’s oldest magazines, The Beaver, is changing its name.

Its publishers say it was only natural that a Canadian history journal should have been named in honour of the industrious dam-building creature which is the country’s national emblem.

But in recent times the magazine’s attempts to reach a new online audience kept falling foul of spam filters – particularly in schools – because beaver is also a slang term for female genitalia.”
(Source: BBC News website 29 March 2010)

Read more of this article here.

“Giving presents to teachers is becoming increasingly commercialised and competitive, a teachers’ union warns.

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) says pupils and parents should not feel pressurised into buying end-of-term gifts for their teachers.”
(Source: BBC 26/03/10)

You can read more of this article on the BBC News Website here.

Do you buy gifts for your childrens’ teachers?  If so, what do you give?  Do you only give a present at the end of the academic year?  Or do you also give at Christmas and/or some other time?

I tend to give only at the end of the academic year.  I usually give toiletries from Vie At Home.

TV bosses in the US have apologised after preview clips of the Playboy channel were accidentally played out on two children’s channels.

A Time Warner Cable (TWC) spokesman said an “technical glitch” was to blame for the mistake which lasted two hours in parts of North Carolina on Tuesday.

The company was made aware of the error after parents called in to report it.

Read more on the BBC News website here.

Concerns about the quality of food given to thousands of toddlers in England’s nurseries have been raised in a government-commissioned report.

The School Food Trust report suggests food served by childminders and nurseries is too high in fat, sugar and salt, and lacks essential nutrients.

Read more on the BBC News website here.

The MckLinky Blog Hop theme for this Monday is “Snow Pics and Stories“. With many places getting their “once every hundred years snow”, MckLinky thought it would be fun to see our snow pics and hear about the snow in our areas.

I live in Scotland, UK, and we have experienced our coldest winter in more than a generation.  The British media has dubbed this winter as “The Big Freeze“.

I recently posted the following two snow-themed entries on my blog:

• My Wintery Walk to Work  - See some photos of the “Winter Wonderland” I had to walk through on my way to the office, during the “Big Freeze”.
• My Twins’ Favourite Ways to Play in the Snow - See some photos of my gorgeous twin girls having some festive fun over the Christmas holidays.

 You should also visit the BBC News website links below to view some stunning photographs of my beautiful  country taken during the Big Freeze:

• Photos of Scotland 18th – 25th December 2009
• Photos of Scotland 1st – 8th January 2010

There’s no snow here at the moment, but various places in the UK (mostly high or coastal areas) have experienced snow in the last week or so, and the MET Office have warned that there’s still more to come.  Here it’s actually a lovely sunny day, but it’s perishingly cold. 

What like is the weather where you are?  Please leave a comment and/or (if you have your own blog) join the MckLinky below to share your snow pics and stories.

If you have hopped by on the MckLinky blog hop, please say “Hi!” in the comments below, and (before you go) check out my other MckLinky’s here.

The consumers’ association Which? is calling for equal protection for UK consumers from pram manufacturer Mclaren.

See my previous post on the McLaren product recall: http://www.mammakerr.com/2009/11/warning-mclaren-recalls-one-million-prams/

Owners of one million Maclaren pushchairs in the US have been told to stop using them after a dozen children had their fingers amputated in a hinge. They are being sent a safety kit.

However, UK owners of identical models will only get extra guidance on their use.

This is outrageous!  McLaren must take immediate action to rectify this blatent difference in customer care.

You can read more about the row on the BBC News website: http://www.mammakerr.com/BBC_McLaren

There have been alarming reports in the news today, warning of the dangers of Phishing websites.

The BBC News Website reported that it had seen a list of more than 10,000 e-mail accounts, predominantly originating from Europe, and passwords which were posted online.

Microsoft have confirmed that their web-based email system Hotmail has been compromised in the attack.

More recent news reports state that the scale of a phishing attack may be larger than previously thought. The BBC have now seen a list of more than 20,000 e-mail addresses and passwords from Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL, Gmail and other service providers.

A spokesperson for Microsoft said phishing was an “industry-wide problem”.

“Our guidance to customers is to exercise extreme caution when opening unsolicited attachments and links from both known and unknown sources, and that they install and regularly update their anti-virus software.”

You can read more on the BBC News website.